‘Bleakest budget’ for mental health didn’t fund promised new agency
By Rachel Eddie and Broede Carmody
Victoria has failed to deliver a promised mental health organisation and delayed the rollout of 35 local mental health and wellbeing hubs in a “bleak” budget that advocates warn will doom the state to repeat mistakes of the past.
Jacinta Allan’s first budget as premier did not fund a long-touted organisation run by people with first-hand experience of ill-mental health – which was a key recommendation of the 2019 Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has overseen her first budget in the role.Credit: Joe Armao
That agency, which would help to develop other organisations and deliver services, was envisioned as a cornerstone of the state’s new mental health system and was meant to be established 18 months ago.
The rollout of 35 local mental health and wellbeing hubs has also been pushed back, alongside more than 100 infrastructure projects, which Treasurer Tim Pallas and Allan blamed on a workforce shortage numbering in the thousands.
“I’d be the first to recognise we have a big task ahead of us,” Pallas said on Wednesday.
The government had committed to opening 50 mental health and wellbeing hubs by the end of 2026, but just 15 of the community-based centres for early intervention have opened. The free services do not require a referral from a GP.
Allan on Wednesday told ABC Radio Melbourne that the royal commission was called because the Labor government recognised the mental health system was “broken”.
“We can’t stubbornly plough on and open these facilities without the staff to support them. So we are taking the time to review the rollout. So we’ll come back with an updated rollout,” she said.
Funding for mental health clinical care will increase by just 1.9 per cent, to $2.79 billion, in 2024-25 after the state spent less than expected on those services in 2023-24. Another $188.5 million will go towards mental health community support services.
Funding for bed-based mental health services will plummet from $6.3 million to $1.3 million a year over the forward estimates to 2027-28.
Health and Community Services Union state secretary Paul Healey said commitments to support and grow the mental health workforce had been “ignored, delayed and trampled on”.
“Make no mistake – this is the bleakest Victorian budget we’ve seen in many, many years,” Healey said.
Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council interim chief executive Kathy Wilson said the government had broken its overdue promise to the community to establish the Consumer Lived Experience Agency.
“We cannot create a better system by ignoring the royal commission’s recommendations for reform. Sidelining consumer lived experience sets us up to repeat the mistakes of the past,” Wilson said.
But University of Melbourne professor Patrick McGorry, the founding director of Headspace, said he agreed with the delays as long as the government delivered its promise to expand the mental health workforce.
“Hitting the pause button is the right thing to do. If you’re going to do it, do it properly,” he said.
Mental Health Victoria said the budget also failed to fund 2000 supported dwellings for people and 500 medium-term housing placements for young people with mental illness – further recommendations of the royal commission yet to be met.
Analysis of Victorian budgets by Mental Health Victoria found that funding for clinical care and community services had consistently increased since the 2022 introduction of the mental health levy on big business, but that budgeted extra cash was not always in line with the revenue raised.
A Victorian government spokesperson said the Mental Health Levy would continue to be dedicated solely to mental health services spending, as required under legislation.
“The mental health and wellbeing sector told us we need to review the pace of reform and prioritise building the workforce – and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” the spokesperson said.
“Since the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, we’ve made the largest investment into mental health in Australia’s history, but there’s still more to do.”
Since 2018, the government has invested $6 billion in mental health services, and the budget included some funding for a new graduate program.
The number of suicides has been trending upwards for three years. There were 147 suspected suicides in the first three months of this year, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, up from 117 deaths during the first quarter of 2023.
Of those who present to Victorian emergency departments seeking mental health support, just 47 are transferred to a bed within the eight-hour target.
One in 10 older persons are readmitted after 28 days. The target is 7 per cent.
Coalition mental health spokeswoman Emma Kealy said Labor ministers were all too happy to line up for media opportunities after the royal commission, but were failing in their duty to implement reforms.
“Five years later, Labor continues to kick key recommendations down the road leaving a broken system and many Victorians paying the price,” Kealy said.
The health services union welcomed Tuesday’s investment in support for eating disorder treatment, with a new graduate program for mental health and wellbeing workers, but said it wasn’t enough.
If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue. In the event of an emergency dial Triple Zero (000).
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